Update 1/13: The Vulcan has returned to Birmingham as Active Rock “103.1 The Vulcan” debuted on W276BQ and 960 WERC at 5:00pm today with Nirvana’s “All Apologies”.
The Talk programming that had been on 960 WERC remains on 105.5 WERC-FM.
Original Report 1/4: A HD2/translator combo will be used to bring a new format to Birmingham, AL. Clear Channel has gained control of 103.1 W276BQ and is using 103.7 WQEN-HD2 to feed it. The station is currently stunting with a six formats and asking listeners to go to MyNewRadioStation.com to vote for the format of their choice. The options and descriptions on the site are:
Outside of Urban, currently dominated by Cox’s “95.7 Jamz“, none of the listed formats are currently available in the Birmingham market.
There is a domain registration that seems to indicate the choice has already been made. 1031TheVulcan.com was registered by MarkMonitor, a registrar used by Clear Channel on December 15. If you recall, “The Vulcan” was the moniker used by Clear Channel’s 105.5 WVVB from December 2006 to July 2009 when that station flipped to a simulcast of News/Talk 960 WERC. The demise of 105.5 The Vulcan and Citadel AAA “Live 100.5” has left Birmingham without a current based Rock music outlet.
W276BQ is currently licensed with 130 watts at 1007 feet above ground level, but has applied for a special temporary authority to move to a new tower due to a dispute with that tower’s owner. The station is also attempting to increase power to the legal translator limit of 250 watts.
Diana Blanton 
Tim 
JoshfromFL 
Jeff 
Steve 
I can say that the only suitable format for 103.1 in Birmingham would be AAA. I could be wrong though…
No we need rock and we need it bad. I just don’t understand why a rock station can’t make it in Birmingham. I know I am not the only one who likes good rock.
I agree with Tim. I live in Fort Walton Beach, a small market and we have three rock stations. I spend alot of time in Bham and there is nothing to listen to up there at all. I enjoy the Gump going through montgomery then I just turn the radio off after that. Unless im north of the city where you can usually get Rocket 95.1. Bham messed up getting rid of 1077 the x but then came the Vulcan it was great then like most good radio stations it died! You guys need the Vulcan back on the air in Bham!
Gen X is the one genre that Birmingham needs and could and would support wthout a doubt. Covering all hits from the 90s in rock, grunge, rap, and pop. The music of the 90s is unbeatable and caters to many demographics. It“™s a no brainer. My girlfriend and I have joked over the past year about starting our own station for this exact genre. Gen X for the win!!!!!
We need a heavy rock station in B’ham bad!! Like the rock 97.3 that was here around the turn of the century. Man turn of the century sounds weird, but i digress that was the best station ever in birmingham. They played some of the stuff 107.7 the X played, but also some really good stuff like Slipknot, Mudvayne, and Nine Inch Nails, and White Zombie. The only reason I can think of is 97 was getting too much attention and the X got threatened by them. It was going great and all of a sudden it was switched to country overnight. We need something like that back and also we really really need Lex & Terry back in birmingham. I called the Lex & Terry show and talked to Dee and he said they were trying to work a deal out to get back in birmingham so only one can hope. We need real rock for birmingham not the same songs over and over like on 99.5 that has fallen soooo bad and 106.9 the still new? eagle apparently after eight years your still new playing 80’s music go figure.
Face it. We all know what it is. A voice tracked station with a cookie cutter format. I’m still going with http://www.bhammountainradio.com. And, another round of WWBR The Bear would cool. We had a great time at that station.